Improvise

Episode #859

July 19, 2025

In this life the go-to plan B is Improvise.

It was the height of the Great Depression. In May of 1930, my grandfather had run out of construction work. He, and everyone else in Los Angeles, were literally starving for a job.

Byron Combs got wind of job openings at the newly opened Samson Tire and Rubber Company factory. When he arrived at the factory, its Assyrian Revival Mesopotamian architecture stood on Slauson Avenue like an Egyptian temple. There was a line of men that stretched along the building’s facade. Byron got in line.

After an hour, the foreman walked along the line yelling out, “Who can run a tire building machine?”

My grandfather yelled back, “I can!”

He was led into the factory and stood at a tire-building drum. The foreman moved quickly back outside. Byron stood for several minutes looking at the drum and glancing over to watch the workman next to him.

The workman said, “You’ve never run a tire builder, have you?”

“Nope,” said Byron.

“Don’t worry. It really isn’t that hard. I’m Freddy. Watch me and I’ll show you.”

Freddy demonstrated laying the rubber cord fabric carcass plies, attaching the beads and flipper strips, tread stock application, and the roll and press stage. This all required practice and Byron had to start over with a couple of tires before he got the hang of it. Through focus, determination and improvising better technique, he became one of the best tire builders in the factory.

Decades later, I was in a show-up at Anaheim Convention Center for a trade show exhibit set-up. The foreman yelled out, “Who can drive a forklift?”

Forklift driving is one of the best jobs on the show floor, but I had never driven one. Remembering my grandfather’s story, I raised my hand.

“OK. You, you, you and you. Report to the dock foreman.” I walked to the dock.

On the dock, we were pointed to the forklifts. I climbed onto one and began to study the controls. The fellow next to me asked, “First time?” I nodded.

“It’s easy,” he said. “Drive it like a car. Steering wheel, gas and brakes where you expect. Gears on the steering column: Forward, Neutral, Reverse. Lift lever here. Pull back to raise the forks. Push forward to lower them. This tilt lever tilts the mast backward to secure the load or forward to drop it. Side Shift moves the forks left or right. Fork positioner adjusts the width between forks. Parking brake here. Easy.”

It was easy. The brief lesson had me moving crates between the trucks on the dock and the booth spaces on the show floor.

Improvisation is more than just being a quick learn. It is adjusting your approach when the standard operating procedure fails. Understanding the standard procedure helps an operator to improvise in difficult situations.

At the Convention Center, I learned to lightly tap the levers for fine control. Tilting the load to slide it off the forks worked in tight spaces. I had to fish pallets out of deep racks by hooking and dragging them with the forks. Rear wheel steering allowed me to combine reverse, full turn, and forward motions to zig-zag the load in narrow aisles.

I learned these improvisations by watching other operators and by trial and error.

As Mark Brown, my favorite skydiving mentor, always said:

“Whenever you find yourself in a difficult or unfamiliar situation, for God’s sake, improvise.”

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